DK has declared solidarity with Slovak anti-gov’t protesters

Ferenc Gyurcsány’s Democratic Coalition (DK) has declared solidarity with Slovak demonstrators protesting government corruption and ties with the underworld.

According to the Monday statement issued by leader of DK’s foreign affairs cabinet Attila Ara-Kovács, the recent mass protests in Slovakia are caused not only by the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancée, but also the “ever-increasing rejection of the interconnection of the political elite and the criminal underworld.” Ara-Kovács notes that this is not just a Slovak internal affair but a regional trend in Eastern Europe. In the statement, the party declares solidarity with “all those who reject the background deals of politicians and criminals,” and notes that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was among the first who defended his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico after the anti-government protests erupted in Slovakia.

“Orbán operates the same system of crime as his Slovak colleague, but with a two-thirds parliamentary majority behind his back, he does so more recklessly and shamelessly,” the statement reads.

Last Friday, an estimated 10,000 citizens gathered on the Slovak National Uprising Square in the capital Bratislava to demand the resignation of Fico’s cabinet. Anti-government gatherings broke out throughout the country after 27-year-old investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée were found shot dead in their home two weeks ago. Before his murder, Kuciak worked on an article that unveils alleged ties between Fico’s inner circle and the Slovak and Italian mafia.

Orbán was quick to blame the Slovak protests on US-Hungarian financier Georges Soros, telling state news agency MTI on Friday that “George Soros and his network seize every opportunity to overthrow governments that resist immigration.”